LONDON (Alliance News) - Housebuilder and regeneration company Inland Homes PLC on Monday said pretax profit surged in the first half of its financial year, thanks partly to a revaluation surplus, as the group was boosted by higher average selling prices.
Inland's pretax profit for the half year to the end of December was GBP21.5 million, up from GBP5.7 million a year earlier and including a GBP14.0 million boost from an uplift in the valuation of its portfolio.
Revenue increased to GBP55.1 million from GBP52.6 million, helped significantly by the average selling price rising to GBP325,000 from GBP242,000, driven by a change in sales mix towards houses rather than apartments. The total number of private sales declined to 93 from 199 a year earlier, but his was offset by the higher selling prices and by the sale of three sites in the half for GBP21.5 million.
Gross margins from Inland's home sales increased to 24.1% from 22.0% in the year, while its land bank increased by 833 plots, taking the total number up to 5,672, 1,146 of which have planning consent in place.
Inland said it will pay an interim dividend of 0.4 pence per share, up from 0.3p a year earlier, saying this demonstrated its confidence in its outlook for the full year.
"This has been another record period for Inland Homes, which not only reflects the positive market backdrop against which we're operating, but also the ongoing success of our strategy and operational activities. Demand continues to be strong in our areas of operation for strategically located, consented land as well as for the houses that we develop, which are of a high quality and crucially are affordable to the average purchaser," said Chief Executive Stephen Wicks.
"Our strategy of regenerating brownfield sites that are well-located in areas of growth in the south east is delivering clear results and, with our key development projects progressing as planned, we are looking forward to the rest of the year ahead with confidence," he said.
Shares in Inland were up 1.0% to 83.61 pence.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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